Smithville coaches rack up the wins, championships

Published: October 29, 2002 12:00 AM

1 of 1 Photos | View More Photos

Heidi Hartzler is a chip off the old Schrock.

Success has come to be synonymous at Smithville with the name Keith Schrock, who is Wayne County's all-time winningest football coach with a 187-86-3 record. That mark includes 11 Wayne County Athletic League titles and the school will make a seventh playoff appearance Saturday.

The 26th-year mentor has seemingly gotten better with age as he's directed three straight WCAL championship and four straight playoff squads. After completing the first 10-0 regular season in school history last week, Smithville is the top seed in Div. V, Region 17. It will host Newton Falls (7-3) Saturday at 7 p.m. in the first postseason game to be held at Smithies Stadium.

The fall success at Smithville doesn't stop with the 56-year-old Schrock, though.

In fact, there's a coach at the school who has an even longer current fall streak of WCAL titles.

[Article continues below]

Schrock's daughter, Heidi Hartzler, 27, has directed the Smithies' volleyball team (23-2 overall) to their fourth league title in her four years as head coach and matched her dad with a perfect league record (14-0).

Like the football team, the Smithie spikers also qualified for regional action and will meet Rocky River Lutheran West in a Div. III Barberton Regional semifinal at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

"I don't see it as intimidating coaching at the same school as my dad," said Hartzler, a 1993 Smithie graduate who played volleyball on the last Smithie regional team and later started at Malone College. "He's been a role model since I was a little girl, seeing how successful he is.

"I would see players always come to our house and I saw that he wasn't just their coach, he was their friend. So, I don't see it as intimidating, I think it helps."

Schrock couldn't be prouder of his daughter, and says she uses many coaching philosophies picked up from her dad.

[Article continues below]

"What Heidi has been able to do is something I've always believed in," Schrock said. "Heidi's been a part of a really good volleyball program here when she was in school and was willing to come back and utilize her skill to keep that going.

"One good thing I think we see in this school is a really good relationship between the volleyball team and the football team. The two teams are each other's biggest supporters."

Fun, but tough

Schrock has also been a successful girls and boys track coach since the 1970s at Smithville and has directed several of his daughter's volleyball players during past springs.

Who could be better to ask about the similarities between the coaches than a few of those girls?

"They have the same mannerisms, they'll always go like this," said senior volleyball standout Katie Ickes, trying to mimic the father-daughter duo by hunching over a little and crossing her arms back and forth as if she were instructing players. "The way they act and the way they do things, they're like identical."

Ickes and teammate Alicia Hoff also have fun pointing out that Heidi has many similar facial features as her dad.

"They look a lot like," Hoff laughed, "but I think Heidi is the tougher coach because she makes fun of people all the time. ... Everyone gets along with her as a coach and a friend, but she makes us work hard. She's always saying 'Don't be last' in sprints."

If Hartzler is teasing a player, it's in a friendly way that's simply meant to help push the team.

"I just want to win," said Hartzler, who is 82-15 at the SHS helm. "I'm really competitive and if we don't win I take it personally. I want to know why and what's not going right.

"I probably learned a lot from my dad as far as that competitiveness goes because he's been that way his whole life. If he's playing croquet, he wants to win. He can't stand to lose and I feel the same way."

Schrock said he's noticed his daughter has picked up some of his trademark techniques, such as running practices according to a tight time schedule, and working for a good rapport with players yet knowing when to discipline.

"When they need their butts chewed I think she's able to do that," Schrock said, "but she's really able to enjoy victory with them when they win."

Helping hands

Few coaches in the area have someone as successful to turn to as Hartzler does.

"I've actually never been to a football practice, which is probably a good thing," Hartzler said. "The main thing I've learned with him is when certain coaching situations come up I know he's been there forever and I can ask him for advice. He's got the answers."

Schrock, who teaches chemistry at Smithville High School, also helps keep track of volleyball players in the building while Hartzler is away teaching kindergarten at Chester Elementary.

"Even though Heidi is not able to be employed here, I can kind of keep track of her players for her," Schrock said. "It makes it a little tougher teaching in a different building, but she's been here four years and has four championships. I keep telling her she's starting a (WCAL) streak like uncle Denny (Chippewa girls basketball coach Denny Schrock) did -- more than her dad has been able to accomplish."

Hartzler supports her dad by lending an ear whenever needed, and believe her when she says there's plenty of sports talk when everyone gets together at mom and dad's house.

"My mom (Susan) is always nervous because she has games all through the week," Hartzler said. "Before games she'll laugh at how nervous we get about games, too. She's just gotta get used to it that sports is all we ever talk about."

There's nothing to be nervous about most of the time for the father-daughter coaching duo.

Despite their differences, they're two of a kind: both are proven winners.